1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to infrared gas grills and is more particularly concerned with an apparatus and process for cooking food items, particularly meats.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, I have developed an infrared gas grill which is the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,857 issued Mar. 30, 1982 entitled INFRARED GAS GRILL. The gas grill of my prior patent has been used domestically as an outdoor barbecue grill. While it has the advantage of being able to provide uniform heat for cooking foods in a short period of time and to vaporize the meat drippings for imparting the burned flavor into the meat, the drippings from meats on the ceramic heating element tends to make the ceramic element brittle. Also, there tends to be flare-ups when substantial amounts of grease drip onto these exposed burners. The burners also tend to become soiled or clogged with extended heavy use.
The present invention differs from my prior art grill in that the ceramic heating elements are shielded from the dripping of the meat and the infrared heat is distributed so as to provide infrared radiation from the burners in an angular direction so that a single burner section provides more concentrated heat to meats at the rear portion of the cooking grid than at the front portion. Other differences will be recognized.
Also in the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,349 issued May 5, 1987 to McKenzie et al., which discloses an infrared gas grill operated with liquified petroleum gas. In that patent, the cooking elements or heat generating systems are suspended on cross rods within the burner cavity.